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Easy/ no brainer upgrade suggestions for New house build?

arse_sidewards said:
One of those 240V in-wall electric heaters positioned roughly where you'll be standing when you get out of the shower is nice too if you're the type to set the thermostat to 60 in the winter.
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My house had combo vent heater in ceiling, was nice to have heat blowing down after a shower.

Also had the 240v wall heaters...never used them
 
Ransil said:
Plan the utility room with room work on shit.
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this a good call.

Other thing that we'd have done differently - direct access to utility room from master closet.
 
Make the ground floor 100% wheel chair accessible. Wider doors, roll in/out shower, bracing in ceiling near bed for lift assist, no cabinets under sink, wheel chair height counters. My parents just had one built like this planning for the future. Really did not cost much more. The Garage is roughed in for a future separate living area incase they need assistance.

Power in the kitchen island.
Extra wire for fan speed in any room that could have a fan.
Soffit outlets for Christmas lights.
 
If not building on a basement put in a crawl space at least 4 blocks high, spray termite treatment after digging and concrete the crawlspace no dirt or gravel .
 
10ft ceilings , 36” doors, outlets , “recessed” lighting, overhangs on exterior with recessed lighting , WIC with built in shelving, auto close cabinetry , upgrade insulation and hvac , I actually suggest LED flush mounts over recessed “can lights” can lights create inefficiency due to thermal bridging , outlets and cat where TVs will hang , walk in pantries that are hidden are bad to the bone , stairway lighting , under cabinet lighting , all the windows you can afford if you like natural light , bigger garage doors … extended length garage go 30ft so it’s never stuffed … I can keep going .
 
Wine fridge... Network drops to everywhere! SMB closet. Water softener, or at least a place for it with plumbing stubed in. PEX-A for best water flow! PEX-B fittings can restrict. Solid doors. BDSM dungeon. :smokin:
 
Have the truss company build your trusses with overhangs based on your location. That way in the summer they keep the sun out of your windows and in the winter you get the sun exposure.

Run the foundation at least 18 inches above final grade and then grade away from the house on the lot.
 
Definitely do some research on the foam insulation


It's a developing story that banks may not lend on a house with spray foam insulation in the ceiling/ under side of the roof. It can trap water and rot without ever leaking into the house. It's good it's good it's good, the top half of your house crumbles without warning. Even if you are vigilant, you may have to spend 40k to tears it all out to sell to someone who's financing.

I'll be at that stage of my remodel soon, and will do fiberglass in the attic, and still undecided on the walls. Caveat Emptor



Wider doors for getting appliances in and out
I went with French doors on the front

If it might be your forever home, consider mobility when you're old, have at least one office near a full bathroom downstairs in case somebody has surgery or breaks a leg or some shit

Solid doors, not much money

"RV garage" as the 3rd or 4th space in the garage, ceiling tall enough for a lift. Roll this into your build and mortgage, unless you 100% have "proper shop money" set aside.

Some locales don't count rv garage as taxable the same way as square footage, so you get some bang for the buck there
 
Bigstic said:
Make the ground floor 100% wheel chair accessible. Wider doors, roll in/out shower, bracing in ceiling near bed for lift assist, no cabinets under sink, wheel chair height counters. My parents just had one built like this planning for the future. Really did not cost much more. The Garage is roughed in for a future separate living area incase they need assistance.

Power in the kitchen island.
Extra wire for fan speed in any room that could have a fan.
Soffit outlets for Christmas lights.
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After having taken care of my mom I agree one hundred present with the first. Bracing is easy to do in rough in and should cost much.
Kitchen island power has been code for years, you haven't cold sweated till you start cutting in plugs as the general says by the way that's a real wood cherry cabinet that cost XXX and your looking at your tools going oh shit!
If your lucky he or the cabinet company will offer to cut for you!
I alway wired overhead lights for ceiling fans the boxes were cheap cost in time bracing was nothing, one general I worked with his guys would put them in because they didn't want anyone to think my lack of carpentry skill was their work!
Soffet plugs is one most designers forget about and is cheap from the electrcians standpoint in material to do
 
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bigun said:
After having taken care of my mom I agree one hundred present with the first. Bracing is easy to do in rough in and should cost much.
Kitchen island power has been code for years, you haven't cold sweated till you start cutting in plugs as the general says by the way that's a real wood cherry cabinet that cost XXX and your looking at your tools going oh shit!
Soffet light is one most designers forget about and is cheap from the electrcians standpoint in material to do
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2023 NEC removed the requirement for island and peninsula outlets. "If" they are installed they have to be on the surface (the pop out style) or on the back splash. No outlets on the sides under the counter any more. Also, even if you don't put an outlet in you have to provide a chase to the area for future power.
 
At least two outlets on every inside wall. At least two spigots on every outside wall. At least one outlet on every outside wall. A 50 amp RV plug on one outside wall. A clean out that can be used as a RV dump station in a easy to access spot.

Research HVAC systems and then go one size bigger. If all electric, get an inverter heat pump. If using a fireplace to supplement heating, have a return above the blower fan to help circulate the warm air throughout the house. Sit down with experienced HVAC and insulation people, discuss what system will work best for the house and location.
 
Bigstic said:
2023 NEC removed the requirement for island and peninsula outlets. "If" they are installed they have to be on the surface (the pop out style) or on the back splash. No outlets on the sides under the counter any more. Also, even if you don't put an outlet in you have to provide a chase to the area for future power.
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Thanks I didn't catch there when I took my CEU class. Seems silly first thing my brother an I did was put plugs in mom's island, otherwise it was pretty damn useless
 
BDK said:
At least two outlets on every inside wall. At least two spigots on every outside wall. At least one outlet on every outside wall. A 50 amp RV plug on one outside wall. A clean out that can be used as a RV dump station in a easy to access spot.

Research HVAC systems and then go one size bigger. If all electric, get an inverter heat pump. If using a fireplace to supplement heating, have a return above the blower fan to help circulate the warm air throughout the house. Sit down with experienced HVAC and insulation people, discuss what system will work best for the house and location.
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I was always an advocate for more plugs the better. I had one house wife during rough in tell me I had tomany plugs on the kitchen cabinets. A year latter she let me know she was very happy not having to unplug onne appliance to plug in another
One contractor I worked with would build a surrond around the wood stove with duct work runnig to the furthit point in the house there was a line voltage thermost at that point, behind the stove was a line voltage A/C thermostat from there it went to a duct fan heat thermostat would say hey I need heat A/C says here you go.
 
billdacat said:
Walk in showers... ADA stuff with wide doors. It has already been mentioned but carefully select you LED light colors, I like 3000k.
Dimimable under cabinet lighting. :smokin::smokin:
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Just go RGB and be able to adjust however you want. The zigbee protocol stuff is a little pricey up front but it's really nice being able to control all your lighting from both switches and a phone/tablet/etc. Smaller house it's definitely worth it, but probably only worth doing in select areas at a certain point.
 
Seen this in a few houses now and thought it was a great idea. Layout your pantry so it shares a wall with your garage. Half height door on that wall into the pantry so you can just slide all your groceries directly into the pantry without having to carry everything around. Great for big shit like big bags of dog food, cases of water, etc.
 
junkytj said:
built in med cabinets with power in the master bath. Best way ever to keep the woman's clutter off the counter. Her hair dryer curling iron, dildo charger what the fuck ever inside a cabinet she can open up and use, then leave her shit laying in there and close the fucking door.

On layout, we put our laundry right outside the master bath/closets, huge time saver.

If they have dogs, having a dogwash isn't much extra if you have the room for it. Elevated counter with a shower pan.

Stove top pot filler is nice.

More insulation than you think you need. It helps everything.

Sound deadening especially if multistory or around bedrooms.

More outlets than you think you will need.

Also think about your TV will be installed. I see a ton of people request outlets behind the TV for data and power. Then the electrician roughs in the boxes right where the wall mount bracket needs to be. I prefer the boxes to be on the high side of the bracket so the wires are easier to hang on the upper side of the bracket and not be seen.

Roofing is something that's worth spending money on the right materials also. If you like metal roofs, they last the best, if not the 40 year shingles will do better than builders grade. Most of the cost of a roof is labor. Make it last.
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Put the plug for the flat iron or whatever hair device tied into the light switch so it goes off when you turn out the lights. So she can't accidentally leave it on.

If you are going spray in Icynene, make sure you buy the appropriate appliances (with make-up air inlets) no ridge vent venting, and the white shit / shark wrap, or whatever the tar paper alternative is on the roof instead of traditional tar paper.

Clothes rods in the laundry room for hanging up clothes as they come out of the dryer.

PVC under the flat work so you can pull power or water in the future under the sidewalk.
 
Motorcharge said:
Solid core doors throughout is probably the biggest one of those. Average house doesn't have that many doors, it's not that much more money to have real doors vs hollow core particle board apartment bullshit. At least for swinging doors, wouldn't bother on bypass bifold, etc. Generally only talking ~$100 extra a door on the high end, even if you've got 20 doors you're only talking an extra $2000 at most. I'd also try to make as many openings 3/0 as possible, again just for the sake of making moving anything easier. No doors under 2/8.
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SOLID CORE DOORS!!! This might be the simplest, quality of life features of a nice house.
 
Put the light switches for closet lights in the closet and use a motion sensor. Same for laundry room or pantry.

You can get bathroom fans with humidity sensors that kick on and remove humidity.

My shop bathroom has the bathroom lights and fan on a motion sensor switch.
 
NPKennny said:
SOLID CORE DOORS!!! This might be the simplest, quality of life features of a nice house.
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I have good quality hollow core (well... as good as a hollow core can be) ... Solid core just wasn't worth the cost. You have to cut some places, and that one was easy for me.
 
KDXSR5 said:
Not sure what (if any) frost line you have to dig below for foundation depth. Here, it is nearly 4 foot, so I always suggest going a bit deeper and getting a basement foundation out of it. Doubles the home's potential square footage cheaper than any other method.
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frost depth is like 6 inches, i believe standard footer depth is 24". basements pretty much only exist here where a sloped lot makes one side a daylight basement.
 
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